The holidays can be a difficult time for those facing food insecurities, but LongHorn Steakhouse has been continuously working to help fight hunger in Atlanta through their Harvest food donation program, which has been in place at theirparent company of Darden Restaurants for the past 20 years. Since the program’s inception, 3.2 million pounds of food have been donated to local nonprofits near LongHorn’s Atlanta restaurants, amounting to 2.7 meals.

LongHorn locations nationwide participate in the Harvest program. Each day, restaurant team members gather unused, surplus food like pasta, steak, soup, chicken and vegetables to prepare for donation. Nonprofit organizations pick up these donations each week to provide to those in their community.

“Hunger continues to be a significant issue in Atlanta, and at LongHorn, we’re in a position to help” said Ayn Wadlington, Managing Partner of LongHorn Steakhouse in Atlanta. “The Harvest program has allowed us to give back to the community we serve for years, and our team takes immense pride in knowing that we’re making a difference.”

According to Feeding America, 34 million people in the United States face hunger, and food banks have experienced greater demand due to high grocery prices and the end of pandemic-era benefits like Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP) emergency allotments.

LongHorn restaurants nationwide participate in Harvest, and over time, their collective food donations have totaled nearly 28 million pounds of food — or 23.3 million meals. Locally, LongHorn donates to I Care Atlanta Inc., Bread of Life Food Bank, Helping Hands Food Pantry, Bremen Food Bank, Salvation Army, A Better Way Ministries, Rockdale House for Women, North Fulton Community Charities, among many others.

In addition, LongHorn has worked with Feeding America for more than 13 years, and since 2017, the Darden Foundation, the charitable arm of LongHorn’s parent company, has donated $16.3 million to support Feeding America member food banks across all 50 states.

As part of these ongoing efforts to fight hunger, LongHorn has helped to enhance mobile food pantry programs for Feeding America’s food banks in communities where food insecurity rates are disproportionately high. Since January 2021, 35 Feeding America food banks across 18 states have received a 26-foot refrigerated box truck to help address transportation needs and give access to nutritious food for those who need it most.